


The Queen Who Should Have Been and the Sea Snake

by ariel2me



Series: Drabble/Ficlet Collection [22]
Category: A Song of Ice and Fire & Related Fandoms, A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-13
Updated: 2017-10-30
Packaged: 2018-12-14 07:36:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,451
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11778426
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ariel2me/pseuds/ariel2me
Summary: Fiery, fearless, strong-willed and determined, they were more than a match for one another.A collection of drabbles about the marriage of Rhaenys Targaryen and Corlys Velaryon.





	1. Chapter 1

“Why should I not think of you as a man whose best years are behind him, a sad old man clinging to his past glory and his oh-so-exalted voyages across the sea like a drowning man desperately clinging to a sinking ship?”

“There are still countless treacherous and dangerous waters for me to sail. My days of braving the sea is not yet over. And a man of eight-and-thirty is hardly old, Princess.”

“My lord Corlys, you are older than my _father_.”

“But more comely, surely? More … _daring_ , shall we say? Bolder, and with more of a come-hither look in the eyes?”

“More full of yourself, certainly. My father is not a man accustomed to praising himself in front of others.”

“Oh? Does he praise himself only when he is alone? Or does he wait for others to do it _for_ him?”

“You're impossible!”

“I speak in jest. I have only the greatest of respect for Prince Aemon.”

“The sentiment is not reciprocated. My father thinks you are vulgar, full of naked and undisguised ambition.”

“Would _disguised_ ambition be better?”

“Not to me. But to my father, well, it's a different story.”

“And yet he has approved of our betrothal, and successfully convinced your grandsire the king to give his blessing.”

“My mother thinks you could be useful to my cause.”

“And what do _you_ think?”

“I think we could make use of one another. It is to both our benefits, for me to claim my rightful place on the Iron Throne. To that end, your wealth and your influence might come handy someday. I have uncles, you see. And uncles have been known to -”

“- usurp the claim of their nieces? With me by your side, Princess, that fate will not be yours.”

“You have _such_ great faith in yourself.”

“No more than _you_ do.”

“You underestimate me at your own peril, my lord Corlys, if you presume that you will be able to prevail upon me and rule the Seven Kingdoms in _my_ name, while I sit meekly and quietly in the shadow. When I am queen, I will suffer no king to reign above me, or even beside me.”

“I would never presume that you would ever sit meekly and quietly, in or out of the shadow. We are not shy or timid people, either one of us.”

“No, we are not.”


	2. Chapter 2

Princess Rhaenys' eyes roamed over every inch of the _Sea Snake_ , her expression inscrutable the whole time. Her reaction was quite unlike the reaction Corlys Velaryon was used to receiving from others who were given the chance – the _honor_ – to be taken aboard his ship, his famed ship, his pride and joy, the only Westerosi ship to ever reach the fabled lands of Yi Ti and Leng. There were no gasps of amazement or extravagant words of praise coming from the lips of his betrothed; none for his ship, and none for himself.

This irked him, certainly, yet her stubborn silence also intrigued him. Was she truly as indifferent to his famed ship and his famous voyages as she was purporting to be?

Her only remark afterwards was to ask, “Why do you not call your ship the _Seahorse_ , in honor of the Velaryon sigil?”

Corlys laughed. “You know very well why that name would not suffice.”

“I suppose it is not fierce and fearsome enough?”

He nodded. “It is not the sort of name that would strike fear in the hearts of men.”

She studied _him_ , Sea Snake the man, not the ship. “And is _that_ what you wish to strike in the hearts of men? Fear? Not admiration towards your good self?”

“The two are not unrelated.”

“In _some_ cases, yes, that is true enough. Though, admiration solely based on fear will not last, nor could it be called _true_ admiration, the kind of admiration that would engender loyalty.”

“Ah. So you are an idealist, Princess Rhaenys. One who believes that true admiration, and the loyalty it engenders, could only come from love. When you are queen, you will make your people love you.”

“You say that so mockingly.”

“No, not at all. But idealists do not always fare well, in this world we live in.”

“I am a realist, my lord Corlys. Fear is so … _limited_.”

“Limited?”

“Limited in its utility and longevity. It could be useful, for a time, certainly. But once people have mastered their fear of you – and they _will_ master it, sooner or later, make no mistake – then where will you be? What are you left with? What was Maegor the Cruel left with, at the end of the day?”

“You are wise, Princess.”

“ _'You are brave, my lord Corlys.'_ Was _that_ what you wished to hear from my lips, while we were aboard your ship?”

“Only if it was a praise sincerely meant, and not a praise recited by rote merely to flatter me.”

“You _are_ brave, my lord. I do not deny that. Very few would have had the courage, or the spirit, to undertake the journey you did. Though, as my grandmother often reminds me, even fools could be brave. And sometimes the bravest are the biggest fools of all.”

“The risks I took were all calculated. I was never reckless, or foolhardy.”

Rhaenys' sardonic smile displayed her skepticism. “Never, my lord? Not even once? What about the time your ship almost sank while you were journeying up north trying to find a passage around the top of Westeros?”

“I turned back the _Ice Wolf_ in time, when we encountered frozen seas and giant icebergs,” Corlys replied, defensively. He was about to embark on a long-winded account of his journey far north, justifying every single decision he ever made on that voyage, but a quick glance at her wry expression alerted him that she was testing him, testing his resolve, and perhaps also his temperament. Defensiveness was the wrong path to take here, Corlys suspected. He bowed his head, a gesture that did not come easily to him, and said, in low voice, “The gods were merciful to spare the lives of my men and I that day.”

Rhaenys snorted. “My lord, bogus piety and fake humility do not suit you at all. I would rather hear you offer a fiery and impassioned defense of yourself. _That_ , at least, would be meant sincerely.”

Corlys roared with laughter. And began a fiery and impassioned defense of himself. Rhaenys actually seemed interested in his account, peppering him with questions and pushing back on his answers, even joining him in contemplating various scenarios and what-ifs.

Her final question was, “Was the _Ice Wolf_ a better ship than the _Sea Snake_?”

“No. It was an inferior vessel. But it holds a special place in my heart still.”

“For being your first? Or for being the one you almost died in?”

Corlys laughed. “Both, certainly.”

“I suppose,” Rhaenys ruminated, her eyes gazing upward towards the sky, “the way you feel about your ship is not so different from the way I feel about my dragon.”

Corlys nodded. “The bond is strong, as strong as the ties binding us to our blood kin, and yet it is often incomprehensible to others.”

“But _you_ have had many, and I have had only the one,” Rhaenys said.

For a moment, Corlys was uncertain if she was still talking about ships and dragons. Or if she was talking about … surely not? “Many, Princess?” he asked.

“Many _ships_ , my lord. What did you think I meant?”

This was dangerous territory. _I thought you were talking about women._ He quickly changed the direction of the conversation. “Speaking of names, would _you_ name your dragon the _Seahorse_?”

Rhaenys laughed. “Never!”

“She was already called Meleys when I claimed her,” Rhaenys added. “But I gave her another name. The Red Queen.”

“How fitting.”

“Why is it fitting?”

“The Red Queen, for the Queen of the Seven Kingdoms.”

“I had no thought of becoming queen when I claimed Meleys. There was still the chance that my father and mother could beget a son at the time. You said once, perhaps merely to flatter me, that I was _born_ to rule. But a daughter is never born to rule. She has to wait to see if a son is born to her father, to be certain of her true position in life.”

“In Dorne -”

“We are not in Dorne.”

“When I said that you were born to rule, I did not mean it so literally.”

“Flattery rarely is literal.”

“It was not mere flattery, saying you were born to rule. It was a reference to -”

“The strength of my character?”

“You say that so mockingly. But yes, I _do_ mean that. Sincerely.”


End file.
